System and method to determine awareness

ABSTRACT

A system for measuring the awareness of a subject including an imaging device adapted to acquire data representative of an image of the subject, and an awareness processor connected to the imaging device, wherein the awareness processor is adapted to classify the awareness of the subject according to the position of the subject.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to detecting the positionalstate of an object, and in particular to a system and method forapproximating operator awareness based on the positional state of one ormore operator features.

BACKGROUND

A primary task when operating a vehicle, such as, driving an automobile,flying a plane, conducting a train or the like, is to monitor vehicularmovement to ensure safe passage of the vehicle and its contents. Oftentimes, however, a vehicle operator will become distracted. Some commondistractions include fatigue, talking on or dialing a phone, interactingwith passengers, reading road signs, or the like. Such distractions tendto direct the attention of the operator away from this primary task, andcontribute to many, possibly avoidable, accidents. Human factorsresearch, moreover, shows that a distracted driver reacts slower tounpredictable and potentially dangerous events, each of which might beavoided provided increased operator awareness.

To address these and additional issues previous systems have beenproposed wherein devices periodically or randomly require an operator tomanually respond to an awareness indicator by pressing a button, or thelike. If a response is not received, the device generates an alarmalerting the operator of potential danger. Other proposed devicesattempt to monitor driver awareness based on heart metrics. For example,the device may measure fluctuations in heart rate, blood pressure, orirregular heart beat patterns. While these attempts, allegedly, increasedriver awareness during times of fatigue, they are crude measures thatare susceptible to false signals.

SUMMARY

To solve these and other problems associated with conventional devicesthat measure operator awareness, the inventors have developed a systemfor measuring the awareness of a subject including an imaging deviceadapted to acquire data representative of an image of the subject, andan awareness processor connected to the imaging device, wherein theawareness processor is adapted to classify the awareness of the subjectaccording to the position of the subject.

A method of the invention comprises the steps of acquiring datarepresentative of an image of a subject, and processing the data. Theprocessing step includes identifying a particular region of the imagedata, normalizing the data in the particular region to a pre-definedsize; and determining subject awareness based on the orientation of aportion of the subject represented by the normalized data in saidparticular region.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective showing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method to determine driver awarenessaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method to determine, enhance andnormalize a particular region according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method to classify driver positionaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a method to determine a reconstructionerror according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a method to determine driver awarenessaccording to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a method to determine driver awarenessaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like numbers represent likeelements, a visual awareness detection system 100 installed in a vehicleis generally shown according to an embodiment of the present inventionin FIG. 1. An image acquisition device 102 is shown generally directedat the facial region of an operator.

For purposes of convenience, the image acquisition device 102 will bereferred to as a camera that is coordinated to measure luminescenceprovided from an infrared illuminator. It should be noted, however, thatthe present invention can be practiced with any type of imageacquisition device and any type of illumination device. Thus, forexample, devices and systems that provide and detect any type of energy(e.g. light, heat, or the like) could equally be implemented to acquireor create an analogous image. One of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize these and other various ways to acquire the desired image tobe processed by the visual awareness processor 104. Traditionally,three-dimensional images have yielded higher levels of detail, and,therefore, multiple camera configurations have often been implementedfor various facial analyses. Although a plurality of cameras 102 may beused to practice the invention, the illustrated embodiments of thepresent invention as generally seen in FIG. 1, employs a single camera102.

The camera 102 is situated to capture one or more images of an object inthe vehicle, and specifically the facial region of an operator. Thecamera 102 may be located in any desired position within the vehicle toadequately capture the image of the object. For example, the camera 102may be housed within a dashboard as seen in FIG. 1. In another example,the camera 102 maybe housed in a rear-view mirror, in a roof, or thelike.

With reference to FIG. 2, the image acquisition device 102 is connectedto a visual awareness processor 104. The visual awareness processor 104includes pre-processing section 106 and a classifying section 108. Thevisual awareness processor 104 may be further connected to a warningdevice 110 (shown in phantom in FIG. 2).

Referring back to FIG. 1, an infrared illuminator 112 directs infraredradiation (IR) toward a facial region of an operator wherein a camera102 is situated to detect the radiation reflected therefrom to capturean image. The camera 102 may include a charge coupled device (CCD) toacquire an image. In this configuration, several light intensity valuesare captured by an array of photosites located across the CCD andelectronically transferred to a digitizer 114. Then the digitizer 114measures the various charges across the array of photosites to convertor represent the charge intensity into a digital format. In anotherembodiment, a high resolution complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) device may be implemented to achieve substantially equivalentresults as the CCD. Next the digital information is sent to the visualawareness processor 104 for analysis.

The visual awareness processor 104 includes, for example, a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) that implements each process to be described. Withreference to FIG. 3, a flowchart is shown and generally describes amethod for determining visual awareness according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. The visual awareness system 100 acquires orcaptures an image of an object in step S3.1, digitizes the image in stepS3.2 to create a digital signal representation of the image,pre-processes the image in step S3.3 as described herein, then analyzesthe object in the image to gauge or measure the likelihood of visualdistraction in step S3.4. Steps 3.1 through 3.4 are then repeated tomeasure later instances of visual distraction while the visual awarenesssystem 100 is in operation.

The image information is passed from the digitizer 114 to the visualawareness processor 104 by way of digital signal to a pre-processor 106in Step 3.3. Step 3.3 is described in more detail in FIG. 4. First, theimage pre-processor 106 identifies a particular region of the image ofthe object captured within the image in step S4.1. Defining the focusupon a particular region limits the processing time to that particularregion and also limits system errors that occur due to physicaldifferences in and around the facial region. Such variations include,but are not limited to, changes in operator height, head orientation,head shape, facial hair, seat position, camera position, or the like.

The particular region may be either manually specified or dynamicallydetermined by algorithms known to the system. Such algorithms arereferred to generally, as they are the subject of prior art, and, thus,will be readily apparent to one of skill in the art.

One of such dynamic systems determines the particular region by firstreferencing a distinguishing feature. The distinguishing feature mayinclude without limitation; eyes, ears, the corners of the mouth, or thelike. For purposes of convenience, one embodiment of the invention willuse the eyes as the distinguishing feature, however, it should be notedthe invention may be similarly practiced using any desirabledistinguishing feature. With continued reference to FIG. 4, a first eyeis identified and tracked by the image pre-processor 106 within thecaptured image in step S4.1. Such identification and tracking techniquesare common and, therefore, will generally be known in the art. Since,generally, the maximum distance between eyes will not exceed aparticular amount, a distance d_(max) may additionally be applied toconstrain or direct the pre-processor where to generally search for asecond eye in step S4.2 Thereupon, a second eye is located in step S4.3.Upon locating the second eye, the particular region may be staticallysized therearound, or, alternatively, dynamically sized relative to ahorizontal distance between the eyes d_(eye) in step S4.4. Theparticular region is sized to at least include the first and second eyesand the nose. However, the particular region may also include the nose,or additionally include the ears or mouth.

Distinguishing features such as the eyes are utilized because the regionsubstantially therearound maintains a generally stable lightenvironment, whereas other facial regions yield larger lightfluctuations. Moreover, eye luminosity remains relatively constant insubstantially every lighting environment. That is, the eye luminosityremains relatively unaffected whether the analysis is performed duringthe day or night. Even moreover, the eyes remain relatively fixed andare generally unaffected by operator facial variations resultant fromactivities including, but not limited to, eating, drinking, talking, orthe like. Such conditions are typically referred to as face occlusions.During these instances, many facial features appear different andthereby yield less accurate results.

Once the distinguishing feature is identified and the particular regionbecomes sized and established, the particular region is next augmentedand normalized using image distribution enhancement techniques. Suchaugmentation or enhancement techniques help to address image distortionsthat may adversely affect analysis of the particular region. Examples ofthese and other distortions include variations in lighting, skin-tone,skin reflectivity, head depth, head rotation, or the like. Suchvariations result in significant fluctuations in the intensitydistribution, the contrast, and the like of the tracked features.Moreover, the augmentation is intended to at least highlight or enhancethe facial disparities that are particularly noticed during operatormovement, and thereby provide a clearer image in terms of the presentanalysis to improve the accuracy of the results.

The particular region is transformed using at least one of a linearintensity affine transformation and a histogram equalization. That is,first a linear intensity affine transformation is applied over eachpixel within the particular region in step S4.5 to reduce the amount ofshadows by increasing their brightness levels, yet leave the pupil, irisand nostrils substantially identifiable, since the intensity values ofshadows are usually larger than the receptive fields of the pupil, irisand nostrils. In an embodiment, more specifically, the linear intensitytransformation is described as I(i)=a×I(i)+b, where I(i) is the i^(th)pixel in the image, and a and b are the affine factors. In an embodimenta=1.7 and b=0. A histogram equalization is applied to the particularregion in step S4.6 to darken the pertinent facial features, such as thenose and the eyes, and brighten the skin.

With further reference to FIG. 4, the size of the particular region isnormalized to a fixed, or predefined size in step S4.7. In anembodiment, since the particular region is dynamically determined withrespect to d_(eye) the size of the particular region varies fromoperator to operator and should be standardized. Various techniques maybe employed to normalize the particular region and one of skill in theart will recognize the advantages of such. Thus, among otherpossibilities, a next neighbor down sample may be used.

With reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the enhanced and normalizedparticular region is next communicated to the analysis section 108 forimage analysis in step S3.4. A method for analyzing the image as shownin Step 3.4 is shown and described in FIG. 5. In an embodiment, theanalysis is done using eigen methods because face images havesubstantially similar structures which may be vectorally represented ina lower dimensional subspace without losing a significant amount ofdetail.

A method for using eigen theory to detect the facial position, andtherefore, the driver awareness is described. Eigen theory is but onemathematical technique to vectorally relate images. Therefore, otherimage vector relating techniques may similarly be implemented which willbecome recognizable to one of ordinary skill in the art when combinedwith the present disclosure. Thus for example, support vector machinesmay carry out the invention as described.

With reference to FIG. 5, the particular region is referenced as a faceimage in step S5.1. The image is then vectorally represented as a pointin a high dimensional vector space in step S5.2. Specifically the 2Dimage matrix is converted to a 1D raw vector using well known matrixlinearization transformation techniques. The image is next projectedinto at least one stored or pre-trained prototype of a face image in aneigenspace in step S5.3 (also known as an ‘eigenface’). Once the imageis projected into the eigenspace, a weight of each vector is determinedby a corresponding set of weights pertaining to eigenvectors in theeigenface S5.4.

An eigenface is a set of eigenvectors derived from the covariance matrixof the probability distribution of the high dimensional vector space ofpossible faces. To generate the eigenface a set of representative imagesare normalized as described in the normalization step for the particularregion in step S4.7. They are sampled at the pixel level (m×n) andtreated as mn-dimensional vectors whose components are the values oftheir pixels. The eigenvectors of the statistical distribution of theface image vectors are then extracted. The eigenvectors are weighted todetermine which vectors create the identifiable facial characteristics.The shorter eigenvectors are given lesser weight and, in an embodiment,are cast out as noise. The longer eigenvectors are more pertinent to theclassification step as they are given greater weight and describedistinguishing facial features.

A predefined eigenface is provided that represents various driverorientations. In the current example, three eigenfaces are predefined.The predefined eigenfaces represent left, frontal, and right operatororientations. With continued reference to FIG. 5, once the image isprojected into each of the eigenspaces in step S5.3, a measurement iscalculated for each eigenspace (d_(left), d_(frontal), d_(right)) thatprovides an average distance between the projected vectors and theircorresponding eigenvectors in step S5.5. This distance is known as areconstruction error.

An embodiment to calculate this reconstruction error as provided in stepS5.5 of FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 6. Let x represent the input vector ofthe face pose; U represent the matrix of the eigen vectors of the imagespace; AVE represent the average vector of the class; r represent thereconstruction stage; e represent the reconstruction error; and yrepresent the sum of products, namely y=U′(x−AVE). With reference toFIG. 6 the coefficients are scaled to integer values between −128 and127 so that they may be represented and calculated using only 8-bits andfixed point operations in step S6.1. The scaling factor may be presetwithin the system or dynamically determined by the system. Thereconstruction error is then determined in step S6.2. In an embodiment,then, r=AVE+Uy; and e=Σ|x_(i)−r_(i)|. The reconstruction error is thenscaled back to the original range and domain using the inverse of thestored scaling factor in step S6.3. The process is then repeated until areconstruction error is determined for each predefined eigenface andinput vector.

Referring now back to FIG. 5, the reconstruction errors are nextcompared to one another to find the eigenface and input vectorrelationship with the lowest reconstruction error in step S5.6. Theimage is then given the appropriate classification in step S5.7.

Although the reconstruction is described using fixed point techniques,as speeds of processors increase and other technologies advance it maybecome insignificant whether fixed point or floating point values areused. Moreover, although one method using eigen theory is disclosed,other methods employing eigen theory may be equally employed todetermine facial position. Such methods will become readily apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art in combination with this disclosure.

The orientations of the predefined eigenface positions are determinedaccording to the field of view of the operator. For illustrativepurposes, the term ‘frontal position’ is used in this disclosure torefer to an operator that is not distracted, and the eigenface for thefrontal position represents the baseline or the 0-degree operatorreference position (i.e. the operator is directly faced forward).Extensive research has shown that a 9 degree to a 14 degree facialposition deviation from the baseline in either direction (distractedleft or distracted right) typically marks a boundary that indicates adistracted operator. In other words, when an operator is in the frontalposition, their facial position is substantially confined between ±(9 to14) degrees. More specifically, their facial position is between ±(10 to13) degrees. Conversely, as operators turn their attention away from theforward road, their facial position approaches and crosses thisboundary. The boundary values, therefore, are generally an accuratedetermination of visual awareness, and indicate that facial position maybe used to determine overall levels of visual awareness. This and otheradvantages will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art havingreference to the specification in conjunction with the drawings.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the visual awareness system 100 may then beconnected to a warning device as illustrated in phantom at 110. In anembodiment once an image of the operator is classified as left or righta warning device is triggered. In an embodiment as illustrated at FIG. 7and FIG. 8, once the system classifies the operator facial position thesystem next determines whether a warning is appropriate due to driverdistraction over a period of time.

With reference to FIG. 7, a register is provided and is initially set tozero in step S7.1. Next in step 7.2, the warning device 110 receives animage classification determined by said visual awareness processor 104.The classification is then evaluated in step S7.3. More specifically, ifthe operator is classified in the frontal position, then the visualawareness system 100 simply repeats the analysis and classification stepas provided in FIG. 5, and the process returns to step S7.1. Otherwise,if the image is classified as non-frontal, the register records or isincremented to reflect a distracted operator S7.4. Thereupon, the systemdetermines whether the register has reached a pre-defined threshold instep S7.5. If the register reaches the predefined threshold, a sensorywarning is generated in S7.5. Otherwise the system returns to S7.2. Inan embodiment, the warning device 110 resets the register each time theoperator returns to the frontal position. Current research indicatesthat as the peak non-frontal duration approaches 2 seconds, theprobability of visual distraction is high. If this occurs, a sensorywarning may be emitted by the warning device 110 to remind the operatorof their primary task, that is, the safe passage of the vehicle and itscontents. The type of sensory warning may be based on a number offactors including cost efficiency, operator preference, or the like.

In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the visual awarenesssystem 100 determines driver awareness by measuring the proportion oftime that the visual awareness processor 104 classifies the operator inthe frontal position. One way to achieve this, for example, employs abinary scheme. In an embodiment, the warning device 114 receives theoperator classification from the analysis section in step S8.1. Thewarning device 114 notes the classification in step S8.2. If the facialposition is classified as being in the frontal position, a register isincremented to record the classification of the position S8.3.Similarly, if the operator image is classified as non-frontal, namelydistracted left and distracted right, the register is not incrementedand skips step S8.3. Thereafter, a proportion of the register value ismeasured in step S8.4. If the proportion is higher than a pre-definedthreshold, then there is a high probability that the operator is likelynot distracted in step S8.5. If the proportion is lower or equal to thepre-defined threshold, then the operator is likely distracted asindicated in step S8.6. At this point, a sensory warning may be providedin step S8.6. In an embodiment, a five second time window is used in a30 Hz system, which provides that the facial position will be classifieda total of 150 times. In an embodiment, the pre-defined threshold isbetween 0.45 and 0.6. However, the threshold may be adjusted accordingto the preferences or quality of the operator.

While the foregoing has described what are considered to be preferredembodiments of the present invention, it is understood that variousmodifications may be made therein and that the invention may beimplemented in various forms and embodiments, and that it may be appliedin numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein.It is intended by the following claims to claim all such modificationsand variations which fall within the true scope of the invention.

1. An awareness detection system, comprising: an imaging device adaptedto acquire data representative of an image of a subject; and anawareness processor connected to said imaging device, wherein saidawareness processor is adapted to determine a particular region withinsaid image, size and establish said particular region, augment andnormalize data of said image in said particular region with adistribution enhancement technique, represent said image within a fixedspace with a vector relating technique that includes a reconstructionerror determined in a fixed point system relative to a floating pointsystem, which is used to classify an awareness state of the subjectaccording to an orientation of the subject represented by the normalizeddata and said vector relating technique.
 2. The system according toclaim 1, wherein said classification is determined according to a facialorientation of the subject.
 3. The system according to claim 2, whereinsaid awareness processor includes a pre-processing logic module that isadapted to identify a first eye and a second eye of the subject and adistance therebetween, and wherein said pre-processing logic module isadapted to generate said particular region according to said distance.4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a warning deviceconnected to said awareness system that generates a sensory warning whensaid awareness processor classifies the subject state as distracted. 5.The system according to claim 1, wherein said awareness processorincludes a pre-processing logic module that enhances said particularregion with said distribution enhancement technique, which includesperforming a linear intensity affine transformation firstly, and ahistogram equalization secondly.
 6. The system according to claim 1,wherein said awareness processor includes a classifying logic modulethat is adapted to vectorally project the particular region into atleast two eigenfaces, wherein each projection includes saidreconstruction error, and wherein said classifying logic module isadapted to classify said particular region according to a minimumreconstruction error.
 7. The system according to claim 6, furthercomprising three eigenfaces, one of said eigenfaces representing thesubject in an undistracted state, the other two of said eigenfacesrepresenting the subject in a distracted right position and distractedleft position.
 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein said othertwo of said eigenfaces are arranged approximately greater than +/−9degrees from said undistracted eigenface.
 9. The system according toclaim 6 further comprising, a warning device connected to theclassifying logic module that generates a sensory warning when thesubject is distracted for a predefined period of time.
 10. The systemaccording to claim 9, wherein said predefined period of time is at orabout 2 seconds.
 11. The system according to claim 1, wherein saidimaging device is a single imaging device, such that said awarenessprocessor classifies such awareness state based upon said image receivedfrom said single imaging device.
 12. The system according to claim 1,wherein coefficients of said vector relating technique are scaled to aninteger value between −128 and 127, such that said coefficients arerepresented and calculated using 8-bits and said fixed point system. 13.A method for determining awareness of a subject, comprising the stepsof: acquiring data representative of an image of a subject, wherein saidimage is acquired by an imaging device; processing said data by anawareness processor, said processing including, identifying a particularregion of said image data; and augmenting and normalizing the data insaid particular region to a pre-defined size with a distributionenhancement technique; representing said image within a fixed space witha vector relating technique that includes a reconstruction errordetermined in a fixed point system relative to a floating point system;and classifying subject awareness based on the orientation of a portionof the subject represented by the normalized data in said particularregion and said vector relating technique.
 14. The method according toclaim 13, wherein the step of augmenting and normalizing comprises thesteps of: performing a linear intensity affine transformation on saiddata in said particular region; and performing a histogram equalizationon said data in said particular region.
 15. The method according toclaim 14, wherein said performing a linear intensity affinetransformation step is performed before said performing a histogramequalization step.
 16. The method according to claim 13, wherein saididentifying a particular region step further comprises the steps of:identifying a first eye of the subject; identifying a second eye of thesubject; calculating a distance between said first and second eyes ofsaid subject; and sizing said data in said particular region accordingto said distance between said first and second eyes of the subject. 17.The method according to claim 13, wherein said system is adapted tostore a frontal eigenface that represents an undistracted subject and isreferenced at 0 degrees, a right eigenface that represents a distractedsubject facing right, and a left eigenface that represents a distractedsubject facing left, and said processing said data step furtherincludes, representing said particular region vectorally; projectingsaid particular region into each of said eigenfaces; calculating saidreconstruction error for each of said projections; determining theminimum reconstruction error; and classifying said subject as frontal ornon-frontal according to said determining step.
 18. The method accordingto claim 17, wherein said stored right and left eigenfaces areapproximately greater than +/−9 degrees from said frontal eigenface. 19.The method according to claim 13 further comprising the step of:producing a warning when the subject is distracted for a predeterminedperiod of time.
 20. The method according to claim 19 wherein saidpre-determined time is at or around two seconds.
 21. The methodaccording to claim 13, wherein coefficients of said vector relatingtechnique are scaled to an integer value between −128 and 127, such thatsaid coefficients are represented and calculated using 8-bits and saidfixed point system.